Gestation, endowments, and knowledge flows around the time of venture creation

Abstract

Recent developments in venture creation are discussed, moving from a standard model of venture creation as a one-off binary decision (enter or not) to viewing venture creation in terms of knowledge endowments that differ according to the gestation process. We draw on the analogy that healthy newborn babies lose weight in the first few days after birth to investigate how nascent ventures slowly build routines and capabilities while drawing down their initial resource endowments. We critically discuss various themes, such as the paradox of new ventures without DNA (i.e., routines), misunderstandings about lean startups, accelerating vs. delaying a startup, and the timing of birth.